Senate Hopefuls' Stands On Gun Control Diverge

November 4, 2000|By JEREMY MILARSKY Staff Writer

If gun control is the issue that will decide how you cast your vote in the U.S. Senate race, you'll find that Republican Bill McCollum and Democrat Bill Nelson share some opinions and a love of hunting.

Both say they favor requiring trigger locks on all handguns. Both would close the "gun-show loophole" in federal law that allows dealers to sell firearms at a gun show without checking customers for criminal backgrounds.

But then their opinions diverge.

While in Congress, Nelson usually supported waiting periods while a gun buyer's background was checked; McCollum usually opposed them. Nelson supported a ban on assault weapons; McCollum voted against such bans.

Both have stayed clear of criticizing Willie Logan, an independent candidate and the only one among the three to call for licensing and registration for all new gun purchases.

McCollum has been endorsed by the National Rifle Association, which has spent more than $200,000 in recent weeks on direct mail and TV ads supporting the Republican for his opposition to handgun restrictions.

Nelson has been endorsed by Handgun Control Inc., led by Jim Brady, former press secretary for President Ronald Reagan who has used a wheelchair since he was shot in a 1981 assassination attempt on Reagan, and Brady's wife, Sarah. Handgun Control has donated $7,500 to Nelson's campaign and spent about $250,000 on ads criticizing McCollum.

Gun control has come up in all three televised debates among the Senate candidates.

Polls show the issue has moderate significance. A national poll by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal in May found 16 percent of those surveyed thought Congress's No. 1 priority should be passing tougher gun laws. By comparison, 26 percent of the respondents said Congress should concentrate on adding a prescription drug benefit to Medicare coverage, and 19 percent favored lowering taxes as the top priority.

"People bring it up, sure, but it's normally not the first thing on their minds," said Dan McLaughlin, a Nelson spokesman.

A 1999 poll by the Institute for Public Opinion Research at Florida International University showed 69 percent of Florida's voters strongly favor or mostly favor stricter laws on handgun sales.

Nelson has repeatedly attacked McCollum's voting record on gun issues in Congress, citing his opposition to several bills that would have banned assault weapons or required new or longer waiting periods to buy handguns.

"I'm a hunter, but I'm radically against assault weapons," Nelson said in Miami on Thursday. "I've voted for waiting periods and criminal background checks when someone wants to buy a handgun. I support closing the "gun show" loophole, but my opponent has constantly opposed the Brady Bill."

McCollum said he has tried to strike compromises between gun control advocates and gun rights advocates. When Congress debated closing the loophole for gun shows in June 1999, McCollum advocated a three-day waiting period and background check for purchases at gun shows. That was a compromise between the gun control lobby, which wanted a five-day waiting period, and the NRA, which wanted a one-day waiting period, McCollum said.

"The bill failed because both extremes failed to come to an agreement," said McCollum's spokeswoman, Shannon Gravitte.

That loophole has been closed in most Florida counties, including Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade, under a 1998 state constitutional amendment allowing county governments to require background checks by unlicensed dealers at gun shows.

In 1991 and 1993, McCollum twice voted against the Brady Bill, which called for a five-day waiting period. Gravitte said McCollum favored an instant-check system that was then being developed by the FBI and was implemented in 1998.

Before Nelson left Congress in 1990, he supported bills that called for waiting periods on handgun purchases as well as assault weapons bans.

Logan has supported a few gun safety laws while in the Florida legislature, including an unsuccessful bill last year that would have banned handguns in hospitals.

Representatives of the Million Mom March movement, which began with a May rally in Washington, D.C., say many Florida women who are registered Republicans will vote for Nelson because of McCollum's stance on gun laws.

"I am making this election a one-issue concern for me and family," said Dana Quift, a Republican from Plantation who says she is voting for Nelson because of his position on gun laws.

Nelson has tried to appeal to voters who are protective of their gun rights by identifying himself -- like McCollum -- as a hunter. But to some people, his voting record speaks louder.

"[Nelson] is a gun-banner," said Marion Hammer, president of the Unified Sportsmen of Florida and a member of the NRA, who accused Nelson of supporting a ban on "mythical" assault weapons. "You show me an individual willing to ban any gun, and I'll show you an individual who will ban all guns."

Logan says getting to the meat of the issue is difficult because of the rhetoric from both sides.

"Unfortunately, you have too many people putting spins on it," Logan said. "If you say you're for gun safety, they say you're trying to take their guns away."

Jeremy Milarsky can be reached at jmilarsky@sun-sentinel.com or call 954-572-2020.